Recently, a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is attracting considerable attention as an eco-friendly vehicle.
A hybrid vehicle generally refers to a vehicle using two power sources including an engine and an electric motor. Such a hybrid vehicle has improved mileage and power performance and decreases emissions as compared to a vehicle having only an internal combustion engine. Therefore, recently, many hybrid vehicles have been developed.
Among hybrid vehicles, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) may be plugged in to charge a battery for driving an electric motor with external power.
In addition, an electric vehicle (EV) is also attracting considerable attention as another eco-friendly vehicle. Since the electric vehicle is generally driven using only an electric motor, a battery for driving the electric motor needs to be charged.
Such an EV or PHEV has a reserved charging function for automatically charging a battery when the vehicle is not used and when late night electricity is available, in consideration of departure time, for convenience of battery charging.
However, even if the reserved charging function is used when a late night electricity rate is applicable in consideration of departure time, the battery may not be sufficiently charged by the departure time according to an external environment (e.g., when input voltages of 110 V and 220 V are mixed). Charging logic is changed according to charger type (e.g., in-cable control box (ICCB) and EV supply equipment (EVSE)), confusing to a driver.